February 7, 2002

Mr. Michael Jay Burns
Supervising Attorney
Texas Workforce Commission
101 East 15^th Street
Austin, Texas 78778-0001

OR2002-0584

Dear Mr. Burns:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 158298.

The Texas Workforce Commission (the "commission") received a request for information relating to an investigation. You claim that some of this information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. You also state that this information is the subject of a prior ruling by this office. We have considered your comments and have reviewed the information you submitted.

In Open Records Letter No. 2001-4629 (2001), we concluded that the commission must withhold the names of the victim and witnesses of alleged sexual harassment under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with the common-law right to privacy. See Morales v. Ellen, 840 S.W.2d 519 (Tex. App. - El Paso 1992, writ denied). You indicate that the requestor is one of the individuals whose name was withheld under the prior ruling. In this instance, the commission must release the requestor's name, as she has a special right of access to information that is protected from public disclosure by her own common-law right to privacy. See Gov't Code § 552.023.⁽¹⁾ However, with this one exception, the commission should continue to rely on Open Records Letter No. 2001-4629 (2001). For your convenience, we have enclosed a copy of our prior ruling.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a).

If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e).

If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408, 411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ).

Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Texas Building and Procurement Commission at 512/475-2497.

If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling.

Sincerely,

James W. Morris, III
Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Division
JWM/sdk
Ref: ID# 158298
Enc: Submitted documents

OR2001-4629

Footnotes

1. Section 552.023(a) provides that "[a] person or a person's authorized representative has a special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests." See also Open Records Decision No. 481 at 4 (1987) (privacy theories are not implicated when an individual asks a governmental body to provide him with information concerning himself).
 

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